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The Mire
The Mire, also called "Al-Mira" in the ruling Hamalfite tongue, is a vassal state within the Hisuuani Caliphate. Multiple ancient tribes coagulated into what would become the Mirefulk, and their rulers once styled themselves Kings in the days before the Voldranians appeared and the Hisuuani celestial cult. Those days are long gone, and now their leaders merely serve as Emir's in the court of the Hamalfite Caliphs from the south. The title itself is one of the many places where the Mirefulk differ, and the Emir himself styles himself as Pontentate - Prince in waiting. Cultural differences abound between the Mirefulk and their Hamalfite lords. The Hamalfite distrust the Mirefulk, remembering the days when they raided inland to steal wheat and woman as they pleased. The Mirefulk see the Hamalfite and Haison as unnatural and feminine, preferring their decorated stone halls and female gods over the masculine arts of fishing and warfare. Despite their differences, the Pontentate of Mire pays homage to the Haison and see their value. Trade facilitated by Hisuuani peace and technology has benefited the Mirefolk, and the Caliphate provides a strong defense against the foreign Voldranians. History The Baugi, the Miri, and the Craunogi The Mire civilization started in the southern swamp, where these three tribes lived nearby each other. War was as common as hunting, and the violence drove them from huts on the ground and into new types of homes. The Baugi tribe and the Miri tribe mimicked the trees, building high and using fortifications of wood and clay to support themselves. The Craunogi built into the shallow sea, using water as their defense. In time, these styles would be used together, but they were separate in their early years. The use of hidden archers and light infantry armored in leather became the norm, much more suited to the marshland fighting that defined their people. It was the chieftains of the Miri that eventually united the tribes, starting House Myre. These early years are poorly written, and most of the Myre Kings are mythical. It was said that King Vole Myre sailed so far across the deep sea that he found a city of pure diamond, which he destroyed and scattered to honor the gods. King Rig Myre is told to have wrestled a Hog-God that left ponds where it stepped. Once the King slayed the hog, he fed his people well enough to raid the entire continent and relieve its lords of their wealth. King Mullen Myre was said to have stolen the daughter of the sea, but what he did with her is untold. Conquest by the Hamalfites Under the establishment of the caliphate beyond their borders, the Mirefolk faced a looming threat of their independence being snuffed out. In due course the campaigns of the Mombadid caliphs and their generals united the Hamalfite tribes and the Empire marched towards Aea, seeking its wide pastoral landscape to feed the enormous nomadic-still populations in the empire. At the same time, the wiser kinds of the later Mire knew that in order to campaign for so long the united empire would turn around and seek a smaller target to supplement their greater needs as they went to war and established themselves steadily as a more sedimentary civilization. Long raided by the Mirefolk, the Hamalfite tribes had become much to powerful to continue to loot as the systematic centralization and uniting of the independent tribes formed greater networks that enabled stronger retaliation. This in turn led more to inward hostility with the tribal kings lacking the sort of target as they had before. The first transgressions came under the rule of Abu ibn-Rash the first Caliph of the Rashid dynasty. Seeking supplementary tribute the caliph made demands for the Mire to pay a regular tithe on food crops and mined metals. The king refused, and Abu invaded, burning down the king's wooden castle and holding his son for ransom. Surrendering, the Mire knelt to the Hamalfites and paid regular tribute to the caliph equal to a quarter of the realm's produce. Later Abu's son Horrod would hold to the Mire similar demands and the renewal of his father's tributary contract. In addition to paying tribute to the Caliph the Mire would allow Hamalfite merchants to operate within the realm of the Mire and the Magi would conduct missions in their realms. The Mirefolk again refused, and Horrod launched a successful war against them, renewing his father's contracts with the added benefit of long-term Hamalfite missions. The merchants and missionaries operated in the Mire over several generations, though not without violence. A number of clans attempted to oust local merchants and missionaries resulting in several lynchings in a ninety-year period. Each case was responded to by hired mercenaries acting on the behalf of the merchants who made good money on the swamp iron, pitch, and tar extracted from Mire lands. Violent anger reached a head however when a mob attacked and destroyed a temple after a Magi was accused of courting a young noble girl. The Mire's took offense to the rumors and executed extrajudicial action destroying the temple and its staff as well as a number of worshipers. In response, Mutawa al-Muwad ordered a third invasion of The Mire, with the stated goal of removing the nobility of The Mire and putting in its place a Hamalfite viceroy to govern the region as a province of the greater Caliphate. A brief two-year war was initiated where the Hamalfite army took advantage of the Mire's largely wooden architecture and burned many of the old settlements. Present After their occupation and subsequent occupation by the Caliphate the Mire lived under successive generations of rule by a Viceroy appointed by Haison to rule the region. After Safferid military reforms a permanent military garrison was appointed to the region to stifle regular insurrection and enforce peace on a corner of the empire considered troublesome. Khodor ibn-Samun al-Michindi revoked the Hamalfite viceroy of the territories and instead appointed a local Mirefolk aristocrat as Emir, granting him powers and privileges equatable to that of a feudal lord. While the present Potentate is often answerable to the military and the court in Haison as a permanent member of the Caliph's sura (advisers/cabinet) it was none the less a gesture of goodwill in maintaining the spirit of Mire culture by the Caliphate. Economy Economically the Mire has become a center for the production of the realm's timber, often slated for use in the Armory of Haison. Like-wise it's a center of natural pitch and tar production refined down to form industrial and commercial sealant and water-proofer. The rich-clay beds of the swamps are mined large-scale for the rich and heavy clay which is used in construction elsewhere in the realm and in the marshes themselves. Deeper still extraction of iron ("Marsh Iron") and other heavy minerals are brought to surface and sent out for refinement and sale into the greater market. A large part of the province's agricultural economy is devoted to fishing and animal husbandry. Shallow pools and floodplains at the same time form the basis of the production of rice, reed, sugar-cane, and marshmallow. Category:New Voldrania Category:Haisonuuna Category:Biomes